Oops!

Our Place In The World

There is so much going on these days. So much is happening in the news and on TV. There is much to see and do. Information is available about everything and anything that we could wish for. The Internet is making people famous in seconds. So many different kinds of ideas. SO many impulses. SO much stimulation.

It’s no wonder that we feel so restless. It’s no wonder that we can’t sit still to meditate. Its no wonder our sleep isn’t as deep as we would like. Its no wonder our minds are always somewhere else then the present moment. Its no wonder contentment always seems beyond our reach and we feel driven to keep doing more and more and more.

When you’re in the car, you’re in the car. When you’re in bed, you’re in bed. There is no-where else but right there where you are but the feeling is different. We get so angry when people cut us off or do something to make our drive a few seconds slower. We get so frustrated when we can’t fall asleep in bed. We want and we want now and if that doesn’t work out then we get upset about it.

Why are we doing this to ourselves? Because we are ignorant. We are ignorant about the causes of suffering and the causes of happiness. We mistake the unwholesome for the wholesome and lead ourselves the wrong way.  This ability to quickly get what we want seems like the perfect way to live but does it actually work? Does our thirst ever become quenched or does it just jump to the next thing? Are we satisfied or do we just find the next feeling of unfulfillment and chase after it.

When we see the thirst as unquenchable and we see the world as ever changing, unreliable, and conditioned, then we really hit a wall. Where is there to go and what is there to do? Really. When we accept death as the only final outcome of this life. When we see it all moving and changing (coming together and breaking apart) with nothing remaining in the middle, what is there to do? Who is there to be? Where does the restlessness think it has to go? What really matters?

We have to look for ourselves.

 

What is Buddhism?

 

Buddhism is actually really simple. There is a lot to practice, a lot to see, but in reality it’s simple. Buddhism basically comes down to 3 laws about reality that we must see and understand. We can call them “laws” because they are like the law of gravity for us here on Earth. These are very simple and observable descriptions of the nature of our world.

In the Pali language, these three laws are referred to as Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta.

To understand these laws, we can start by looking at Anatta, the composite nature of all things. It was many years ago that scientists first looked under the microscope and found that matter was composed of atomic and subatomic particles. Throughout the years, many scientists have even began making up theories about even smaller particles that make up everything. There has been a great deal in the news lately about a large atom smashing machine that has been built in Switzerland that will began searching for just these types of particles. Science knows that all things are made of smaller of smaller bits. It is also apparent to anyone who has watched the ocean waves or seen children leaving school that after things come together, they will also eventually separate. If we think this is not the truth then we can try and hold onto something forever. Whether it’s a feeling or thought, a flower or a loved one. We can keep things for a while, but eventually either it will pass away or you will. In both cases there will be a separation. This act of things coming together and then separating is called Anicca.

The word Anicca means that everything is in a constant state of flux and change. We can look out at the clouds in the sky or our children growing up to see that this is also true. Once again we can dive into the smallest level and see the atoms bouncing off each other, separating and reforming continuously.  From big to small, everything we can see and experience is changing. A good example of this is when we eat our favorite meal. When we eat we can try to focus on the good taste we are trying to experience. Now, we should try as hard as we can to get that really good taste to stay in our mouths. After we’ve chewed a few times we will see that it inevitably starts to fade. It just won’t stay. The taste slips away again and again and we are always left wanting something else. Something more. This is our last truth, the truth of Dukkha.

Since we have already seen how all things are composite in nature, making them also impermanent, it is easy to see how nothing can fully satisfy us. There is simply nothing to hold onto. Nothing can always be there for us to give us this consistent comfort or security that we need and desire. This is the same reason why people drink or use drugs, watch television and play games, listen to music or have sex. If we had some sort of constant contentment then we wouldn’t need to spend our lives moving from one sense pleasure to the next. I remember when I was a child, my mother used to read me a book called “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”. I think the mouse symbolized a child and it was meant for the children to see how the parents viewed their child’s neediness . In any case, the book went something like this:

If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk.

If you give him the glass of milk, he’ll ask you for a straw.

When he’s done drinking the milk, he’ll ask you for a napkin.

Next, he will want to look in a mirror to see if he has gotten a milk mustache.

While looking in the mirror he’ll see he needs a haircut and he will ask for a pair of nail-clippers…

 

…And so on until eventually it comes full circle and the mouse wants a cookie again. 

This restlessness to find some sort of fulfillment is the effect from the causes of Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta. And in Buddhism, we can say that it helps to creates our grasping, the base of all of our suffering. In Pali, the word for grasping is Tanha. What that word actually means is “thirst”. Because there is no fulfillment to be found we are all constantly very, very thirsty. Always drinking from sense stimulation. But, like the fading taste of our favorite food, the stimularion fades and leaves us wanting more. This is how we get stuck in Samsara or the cycle of existence. We end up wandering the rounds of rebirth searching in vain for our contentment. Like the popular U2 song, each of us comes into this world again because “I still haven’t found, what I’m looking for…..” 

 

This is why the practice of Buddhism becomes so important. Buddhist practice is actually more like a training process. The ultimate goal in Buddhism is to be free from suffering, our thirst. So once we know and see the truth then we must train our mind and feeling to act in accordance. We can notice how upset we get when something we cherish breaks or how miserable feels to be cold. We can observe how our feelings don’t accept the reality of the world. They are more like a small child, eager for pleasure and upset if there is pain. But with enough training our child will start to see how things really are and thirst begins to subside. We will see that there is no point in it. Then there is a letting go, which opens up into peace. With this peace in our hearts we will feel that there is no reason to chase after anything anymore. There will be nothing to do and nowhere to go. This is what can be called enlightenment or liberation. Liberated from the thirst and so liberated from the pull of the next rebirth. There is no reason to come back. This understanding and practice that leads to final liberation and the end of rebirth is then what we can all Buddhism.